Gift cover (fukusa) of silk embroidered with silk and silver threads, Japan, 19th century

Gift cover (fukusa) of green silk embroidered with silver thread and coloured silks in long and short, satin and stem stitches with laid and couched work and knots. The fukusa is edged and backed with red silk crêpe.

Embroidered scene depicts tea plantation in a mountainous landscape with a pine tree. Tea trees are covered with woven reed curtains and workers picking tea leaves. A woman has covered her hair with a long kerchief while picking the tea leaves, a small child can be seen looking for his mother. A woman in the right hand corner is turning her head to look at him. A young girl turning her head places her hand on a woven basket close. In another field, two women are working and chatting together. In the middle ground, two men are carrying baskets filled with tea leaves. There is a bridge over a river in the background.

Lined with red chirimen crêpe dyed with beni, safflower. The fukusa is sewn in the shihohi style.

This fukusa is one of five sold to the V&A in 1963 (T.197 to T.201-1963) by a Mrs Frances Farmer. At this time, she was elderly and living in a care home and it was her niece, Catherine Dunlop, who corresponded with the museum. According to a letter from Mrs Dunlop preserved in the V&A Archives (MA/1/F/54), the fukusa came into Mrs Farmer's possession ‘as a result of an error on the part of her mother. Her father was a tea-taster in Japan and she and her mother, an American lady, joined him in Japan when she was about 3 years old. The Emperor of Japan had never seen a white child and sent for her so that he could have a look at her. Following the visit, he sent a royal procession to their house with gifts. Her mother, having only just arrived and not knowing Japanese custom, kept the fucsas (sic) instead of returning them as she should have done. An embarrassed father tried to return them to the Royal (sic) Palace but was told by the Emperor to keep them.’

T.198-1963